Candid
by RaunchyRavenclaw
Summary: As a fourth-year at Hogwarts, Mara Nelms starts to see Sirius Black in a new light. From cocky troublemaker to something else, maybe there's more to the boy that she first met four years ago. Companion oneshot to "Mara Nelms and the Mystery of Love".


It was nighttime. The school of Hogwarts had slipped into the routine of its usual slumber, with only the occasional professor come to interrupt the solitude as he or she crossed the wide corridors. Mara Nelms was not a professor of any sort, but she was very much awake as she crouched in the thicket of shadows behind a corner, lying in wait for her chance.

_Clack, clack, clack_.

A female silhouette Mara had quickly recognized as the Divination professor was striding in a leisurely fashion down the hall perpendicular to her corner, growing closer and closer to the spot where she was hidden. _Come on, come _on, Mara thought impatiently, willing the woman to pass her already. Mara wasn't very familiar with this professor, but she could bet that she wouldn't like her very much. Who wore heels as obscenely loud as she did? As much as Mara didn't want to be caught, it was too easy for her to be warned of the adult's presence for her to hold much respect for the person.

Mara held her breath as the professor's footsteps hesitated at the end of the hall. In what seemed to be an airy, unconcerned decision, the professor turned the corner opposite from her. Mara watched the professor's long, scraggly hair waving at her with relief. _See ya, floozy_, she crowed triumphantly, and she darted past.

Among a crowd of portraits and tapestries, Mara found that she had reached her destination: the Potions storeroom. She drew her wand from her robes and quietly muttered a word, and a dark entrance revealed itself to her. With a careful sweep of her surroundings, Mara submerged herself into the storeroom and let the door shimmy back into place behind her. Inside, she whispered a word: "_Lumos_." Her wand obediently lit itself, and she used it to guide her way toward the back of the room as she studied the shelves searchingly.

Mara had done this before-many, many times. Sneaking around, that is. She was growing used to the routine; in fact, her nightly adventures were beginning to feel natural to her. She didn't always break into the Potions storeroom, of course. She liked to vary her after-curfew ventures from exploring the castle grounds to library visits to high-risk storeroom raids. There was so much to see, so much to absorb at Hogwarts, and initially, she was troubled when she felt she wasn't being properly exposed to all that she could learn. Not having been fortunate enough to been born into a wizarding family, magic was still a new concept to her even after the number of years that had passed since she had discovered that she was a witch. With Hogwarts at her fingertips, magic was so tangible, beautiful to her, and she was determined to know all she could on the subject.

Tonight, Mara was browsing the cupboards for ingredients that she had realized she would be unable to obtain on her own, in preparation for a potion that she had found in the pages of a dusty textbook she had checked out the other day. Her fingers skimmed over the rows and rows of flasks and bottles and vials, all of them different shapes and sizes that made for a kind of wonder to stand among. "Where are you? Come on..." Mara urged no one in particular, her eyes rapidly flitting over the labels. "Ah! There you are..." She selected a bottle with a pale, ivory-colored powder inside and brought it closer to her face for inspiration. "Powdered horn of Bicorn. This should be right, I think." She frowned momentarily, wondering at the words in the textbook which had specified the ingredient to be "lunar-extracted". How was she supposed to tell? What was the difference? After a brief look around the shelves to see if there was a label for a similar ingredient with the specification, Mara stuffed the bottle she was holding into her robes.

She continued the search for her other ingredients in a like fashion, identifying labels and then pausing to compare her memorized description of the ingredient to the one she held in her hands. By the time she was done, her pockets were bloated with bottles and vials, and she double-checked to make sure she had taken only pieces of amounts that would easily go unnoticed or be dismissed. She snuffed out the light of her wand with the curt syllable of "_Nox_", and proceeded to push open the door to the corridor again. Through the small crack she had made, she scrutinized both directions before allowing herself to widen the exit to step outside. Behind her, the door sealed itself shut once more.

Although the hurdle of her adventure tonight had been overcome, Mara did not allow herself to exhale a breath of relief until she had delivered the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung itself open to her to present the Gryffindor Common Room. She was safe. Mara stepped into the space, muddled with success and exhaustion, but she brightened at the cheerful sight of a fire crackling away. She produced the items from her robe and stared down at them fondly, and she stroked one vial with the back of her finger as she exulted in the fun she would have making her potion.

_FLASH!_

Startled, and with instincts that Mara didn't know she had, she stashed the items back into her pockets. Swallowing as calmly as she could, Mara allowed herself to look toward the source of the intrusion.

She was met with the eye of a black camera.

The camera lowered, and then Mara found herself glaring at a pair of grey eyes that coolly stared back at her. The fire. Of course-she should've known. The fire wasn't usually lit when the room was empty. "Well, well," Sirius Black remarked with amusement, "what do we have here, Ms. Nelms?"

His voice was thick with an arrogance that made her want to hit him. Sirius Black was one of _those guys_. The kind Mara couldn't stand. She scowled at him in response, and it was for a number of reasons. Mainly because she had no idea _what the bloody hell he was doing-_but also because he _knew_ she loathed that name. "Shut up, Sirius. What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you that, Ms. Nelms." Sirius tapped the side of his black camera.

Mara pulled up her chin and looked him squarely in the eye. "I don't know what you mean," she retorted.

"Oh, but surely you do!" He smiled widely, and for the life of her, Mara couldn't figure out why he would assume she'd just admit to breaking the rules. On the surface, she kept the frown firmly pasted on her face, but her thoughts ran amok inside her mind. She had turned the items away as soon as the light had flickered, and if she remembered her experience with cameras correctly, he should have a nice blur on the roll of film he developed.

"No, I really don't," she said dryly.

"Let me explain," Sirius said pleasantly. He raised the camera in his hands once more. "Wizarding camera."

There was a beat-a terrible, dawning beat-and the truth shot through her. Wizarding cameras caught _moving pictures_. The image of her stolen potion ingredients and her consequent guilty reaction would be crystal clear to any viewer. Mara gaped at him.

Clearly appeased by her newfound terror, Sirius continued. "Now what would the holier-than-thou Ms. Nelms be doing, in possession of all those bottles that look as if they were snatched straight from the Potions master?"

_Hippogriff balls_. "I don't know what you're talking about," Mara said breezily, drawing herself up to a better height as if to challenge him. "If you mean the ingredients, then I got them on my own. Tonight's a full moon, you know," she added, as the memory of the image of tonight's moon rose to the surface of her mind. "Better for lunar extraction." She still had no idea what the hell lunar extraction was, but she was hoping the same went for Sirius. Maybe if she sounded like she knew what she was talking about, she would sound believable.

"True," Sirius admitted slowly. The tension in Mara's shoulders loosened. Maybe she would get away with this yet. "Except I noticed you had a bit of shredded Boomslang skin, too. That's a little exotic to find just because tonight's a full moon, don't you think? Don't Boomslangs live in Africa?"

Mara's fingers curled and uncurled in stiff motions at her sides. She couldn't believe he had seen the Boomslang skin, too! It was going to be hard to find an excuse for that. Boomslang skin had a distinctive emerald, earthly sheen to it, and it was easy enough to recognize even at a distance. Just as she was groping the back of her mind for a lie, he interrupted her flow of thoughts: "It's after curfew, too, Ms. Nelms. You can make up as many stories as you want, but I've caught you red-handed." Sirius waved the camera like a victory flag.

Her face fell. He was right, but it was difficult for her to come to terms with that. Her hands began to trace the shapes of the vials in her pockets. "What do you want?"

"Er." With this, Sirius furrowed his brow, at a loss. It occurred to Mara that he had simply felt like busting her. "Blackmail. I dunno. I'll think of something. Sleep on it, Ms. Nelms. Nightmares and all that." He flashed her a signature smile that would have sent first-year girls swooning to the ground, but Mara found exceedingly male and annoying.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and hurried toward the stairs. To be honest, she was much more concerned with getting away with the items she had stolen than being blackmailed by a pig like Sirius Black. And, as a half-hearted thought, she muttered under her breath, "Don't call me Ms. Nelms."

Sirius and all those equally bothersome friends of his-Potter and Lupin, and some sniveling boy who resembled a rat that she could never remember the name of-all called her "Ms. Nelms." It had been an accident at first-just a slip of the tongue as they addressed her with classy titles to make fun of her (wanting to learn was obviously a crime among their ranks). But she had stiffened when they landed on "Ms. Nelms", and she had snapped back at them so viciously for it that they had never let it go. In fact, Mara's mother was a Muggle teacher, and everyone called _her_ "Ms. Nelms." She couldn't stand it when anyone, much less a bunch of chest-thumping hooligans, called her the same. Tonight, however, she forgave the insult easily as she headed upstairs to her room.

* * *

"Wow, Mara. You look kind of-...I don't know. Pissed off?"

Mara stopped stabbing the food on her plate long enough to glance up at the familiar form of her best friend, Megan. Morning had arrived all too quickly for her, and she had rolled out of bed without so much as a few hours of sleep. As a result, she wasn't so much hungry as she was tired. She sat now in the Great Hall, wielding her fork mindlessly against her breakfast.

"_What_?" she muttered irritably.

"Uh. Yeah. That." Megan leaned in, worried. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's _wrong_? I'll tell you what's _wrong_!" Mara threw her hands up in the air, ready to launch into a full-blown rant, but the frame of another person slipping into view interrupted her. One of her other friends, Laura, chose this moment to sit down with them. She wiggled her fingers in a tentative wave.

"Morning, guys. Whoa, Mara. What's with the face?"

"Mara's about to tell us why she's pissed off," Megan supplied.

"Oh. Okay, go for it." Laura folded her hands together.

"Hey, Laura." Mara paused, inhaling deeply to ease her annoyance. "Last night. I was-you know, on one of those adventures again."

"For what?" Laura asked.

"I'm looking at a potions textbook right now." Mara gave her a meaningful glance.

"Ah."

"Guess who caught me?"

"Crap. Someone caught you?" Megan frowned. "Who?"

"Sirius-friggin'-Black."

"Whoa," Megan and Laura blurted out together, and they turned to exchange knowing looks. Neither of them were particularly fond of anyone from the infamous band of pranksters. Or Marauders, as they had now been trying to call themselves ever since the recent incident with Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts.

"What'd he do?" Megan asked.

"Snapped a picture. I was in the Common Room looking over my things, and he caught me off-guard." Mara wrinkled her nose in disgust. "He wants to use it as blackmail now, apparently. Whatever. That was annoying, but it's not why I feel terrible today. After talking to him, I didn't get to bed until _really late_ last night, and now my head's pounding from being so tired."

"Blackmail?" Laura repeated blankly. "Blackmail to do _what_?"

"Yeah, that. I don't know!" Mara rubbed her temples in a useless effort. "He was just like, 'Yay, blackmail. I dunno what for yet, but I'll find something', and I was all, 'Um, okay. That's cool. You go do that.'"

"Why was he even still awake so late?" Megan pointed out.

"Merlin knows," Mara sighed wearily. "I don't really care, and I don't know what he's gonna blackmail me into doing, but I'm pretty sure I can get out of it. Just gotta get to that picture soon when he's not looking."

Laura raised her eyebrows. "You know where it is?"

"No, but I figure it's in his room. Right?"

"Maybe...?" Megan glanced around uncertainly.

"Well, his room sounds like a good place to start. Oh! Maybe you can keep him preoccupied tonight or something, and Megan can sneak into his room and search for it for you?" Laura suggested.

"_What_?" yelped Megan, horrified. "Megan isn't doing anything of the sort. I don't want to have to go into the boys' dormitory!"

"Oh, come on, Megan," Mara said, perking up at the scenario in her head. "That could work. I'll just keep him from going back to the Common Room at all until curfew or something."

"_No_!" Megan protested fiercely. "What if I get caught? That'd be so...oh, God. How would I explain myself?"

"Say that one of the first-years lost her pet, and you thought you spotted it and followed it there," Laura urged.

"That's a terrible lie!" Megan moaned, burying her face in her hands. "Besides, I stink at lying. Laura, you do it!"

"I would," Laura said, "except that I'm not a Gryffindor and it would be infinitely more suspicious for me to somehow be in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory." Laura was a Ravenclaw, but she hung around Mara and Megan, who were both Gryffindors, quite often. Sometimes, they would forget that she was from a different house at all.

"Well-I don't know. I just don't want to do it. I'd be so embarrassed!"

"_Meg_-annn."

"No."

"Please!"

"I refuse!"

"Come on, Meggie," Mara pleaded. "Please? Make my life easier? Otherwise, I'll have to look for some_ clever_ way to do it myself, and I'd rather not have to."

Megan lifted her head slowly and peered at her two friends. "You guys make me miserable."

"I try," Mara nodded.

"Fine," she sighed.

"I love you!" Mara announced, cheered to know that there was _that_ taken care of.

* * *

"What do you think of stars?"

In the Hogwarts' library, Mara snapped her head up from browsing the immeasurable shelves of books to find the face of a familiar fourth-year boy peering down at her. He was a rather skinny boy, tall with tousled ginger hair that seemed as if he purposefully kept it ungroomed.

"I dunno. They're fine," she said, her voice flat. "They're pretty, I guess. Why?"

"Do you like watching them?" he continued, sounding excited. He ran his fingers through his hair, and Mara thought to herself that he seemed to be unusually conscious of its appearance.

She wrinkled her nose. "Um, not really. They're kind of really...still."

"What's wrong with still?" He seemed taken aback.

"Nothing, it's just..." Mara paused, searching for the words. "You know what? Nothing's wrong with them. I'm sure that once upon a time, I would've liked watching stars. But for now, it's just a boring activity. I've got better things to do with my life." She gestured to the shelf of books behind her.

"But, you know, in your free time..." The boy fumbled in his speech. "Would you ever feel like sneaking up to the Astronomy Tower to look at them?"

"This _is_ what I do in my free time." Mara frowned. "Not always reading, that is. Just finding out about this stuff. Magic. Experimenting. And you know, I sneak around all the time-but _why_ would I want to sneak up to the Astronomy Tower? There's nothing there."

"There're _stars_," the boy stressed, seeming to be on the verge of frustration. "The night sky! It's-I don't know, it's-"

"Look, I get it," Mara interrupted him, the pieces clicking inside her head. "You want to find out more about them. You should've said so." She turned back to the shelf as she perused the titles before her, at last finding one that appeased her. She selected it from the collection and pushed it into the boy's arms. "There."

He stared at it, aghast. "That's not what I meant! I-"

"You don't like stars?"

"No! I mean, I do, but I don't want to find out more about them."

"Then why else would you want to sneak up to the Astronomy Tower?"

"I wanted to-you-" he stopped himself finally, taking a deep breath as he smoothed his hair down again. "Look, is there anything you like to do?"

"Well, yes." Mara blinked. "Inventing spells is always quite fun for me, although I haven't learned enough about the theory of magic yet to get a handle on it."

"_Anything else?_" He was looking truly distressed. "What do you do with those friends of yours? That girl with the blue hair and the Asian?"

Mara started slightly at the mention of Megan and Laura. "Megan's had her normal hair color back for a while now. And the Asian's name is Laura. How do you know about them? Do you know me or something?"

The boy looked at her, taking a deep breath. "_Of course_ I do. You're Mara Nelms. Everyone knows you. You're the top of our class."

"That's...creepy." She couldn't find a better word for it. "Well, we...just hang out, I guess. I mean, why does it matter to you?"

"Look!" He combed his fingers through his hair, a habit Mara was starting to become perturbed by. "You're going to Hogsmeade this weekend, right?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"Do you want to go somewhere with me then?"

Mara blinked several times in succession. "I'm sorry. What's your name?" The question had been on her mind since he first struck up conversation with her.

The boy flushed beet-red, and without another word, he spun on his heel and hurried away.

"What was that about?" Mara muttered to herself, watching him walk away. That was quite possibly one of the strangest experiences she had ever had. Why in the world had he asked her all those questions about stars? And why the sudden change in subject to _Hogsmeade_? As far as she was concerned, those two topics were completely unrelated. Shaking her head, she switched her attention back to her books.

When she had found the titles she had been searching for, she hurriedly checked them out and left the library, hoping she still had time to run a few more errands before her next class started.

* * *

"Merlin's beard," James Potter whispered, trying to muffle his amusement with such great difficulty that he was smacking the top of the table of which he was sitting at. "What was _that_?"

"Good lord if I know," Sirius barked out with laughter, not even bothering to suppress his mirth.

The librarian, Madam Pince, shot them a deadly look, and they quieted themselves accordingly. They were sitting in the library, half-heartedly trying to get some headway done on the research paper they had due for Defense Against the Dark Arts due this coming Friday.

"She's _bonkers_," James crowed.

"Stark raving mad," Sirius cackled. The pair exchanged glances.

"Loony, that's what she is."

"She's got a few loose screws."

"Lost her marbles!"

"Off her _rocker_."

"No, seriously, mate, what was that?" James said, throwing his legs onto the table when he was sure Madam Pince wasn't looking. "I want to say she was just playing that poor chap, but knowing Nelms, that might have been a dead-serious situation there."

"My good James, I don't think she could've acted that well if she tried. Did you see him, though?" Sirius mockingly ran his fingers through his and batted his lashes. "N-N-Nelms, would you want to watch s-s-stars with me?"

James slapped the table in laughter again, earning him another glare from Madam Pince. He swung his legs off hastily. "How about H-H-Hogsmeade, N-N-Nelms?"

"Would you like me to bring you flowers?"

"Take notes for you?"

"Be your guinea pig?"

"_Ugh!_" James shuddered. Mara Nelms' magical experiments were infamous among Gryffindors; they had a tendency to blow up and destroy everything within a ten-feet radius.

Sirius fell quiet for a moment. "Who do you suppose that was, anyway?"

"That guy? I think his name was Arnold." James warily eyed the stack of books they had gathered on the table and picked one up, thumbing through the pages. When Sirius failed to say anything else, he looked up from it. "Whatsamatter, Sirius?"

"Nothing." Sirius turned his stare on the exit of the library, deep in thought.

"Well." James spoke with purpose, watching his friend closely. As he expected, Sirius snapped back to attention quickly enough. "I'm bored already. You wanna just get Remus to help us with this later?"

"Yeah. Lunch is about to be over, anyway." Sirius rose from his chair.

"Ah, good ol' Charms. Let's go."

* * *

Mara was good at Charms.

She would have liked the class under any other circumstance. Charms was a fun and interactive class, unlike History of Magic (which required constant note-taking and usually comprised long, sprawling lectures). Plus, Professor Flitwick was part-goblin. How cool was that?

Yes, Mara would have liked Charms class, if not for the Marauders.

That's right. Every last, stinkin' "Marauder" had the class with her, a fact she would often enthusiastically dwell upon during later hours over dinner with Megan and Laura. It was an extremely unfortunate arrangement.

Luckily, she had Megan with her in the class as well, to at least keep a _shred_ of her sanity. Today was even better. Today, Gryffindor had double Charms with Ravenclaw. Laura was already in the classroom, waving Mara and Megan over to the pair of empty seats next to her, when they entered the room.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" she asked brightly.

"Nothing much," Megan said, plunking her books down.

"Well, not much. Some guy asked me a bunch of weird questions while I was at the library, though," Mara said, seating herself comfortably in the chair. "I think he was looking for help on research for astronomy."

"Brave guy," Megan joked. "Ow!" She yelped as Mara hit her on the arm. "What about you, Laura?"

"Herbology. Blech." Laura made a face. She was not particularly fond of the subject. "Same old, same old. Does he really have to do that every time?"

"What?" Megan perked up. "What are you talking about-? _Oh_. Okay." She followed Laura's gaze and turned behind her, picking out their focus easily enough.

Mara turned, too, and rolled her eyes when she spotted the infamous "Marauders" stepping in. "What did he do?"

"Potter. He does this thing with his hair, and like...flips it." She did a dramatic flip with her hair. "Like he's trying to keep it messy."

"See, it doesn't work when you do it. Your hair just goes back into place," Megan pointed out. Laura had a fairly low-maintenance bob that returned to its natural state no matter the conditions.

"Yeah, I don't know why he does that," Mara agreed halfheartedly, zeroing in her glare on the black-haired boy next to him.

"Who are you-? Oh." Laura patted Mara's hand sympathetically. "Don't worry, we'll get 'em."

"Whatever," Mara sighed, twisting around again. "I hate this class."

"At least we have each other!" Megan offered cheerily. "Chin up."

"Yeah, you two are the only reason I haven't Stupefied every last idiot here," she muttered.

"Ahem." At the front of the classroom, Professor Flitwick cleared his throat as his students settled themselves into their places. Mara straightened herself in her chair, and class began. Today, the new material was over Summoning Charms. She immediately found herself in a better mood, as she had always found the idea of a Summoning Charm useful, and it was just the sort of thing she would try to learn in her own time.

"_Accio quill_!" She muttered, as the classmates around her chorused their own attempts when Professor Flitwick finished his demonstration and encouraged the room to their own devices. The tip of her wand was pointed doggedly toward the feather quill. The quill jerked toward her, hesitating, but then stayed firmly put. Mara frowned. "_Accio QUILL_!" She insisted, prodding the quill with her wand this time. Still, nothing happened.

Beside her, Megan was not having much more luck with her own quill, although she seemed to be able to coax the feather to zoom forward a few inches before stopping short of its destination. Laura, on the other hand, did not appear to have trouble at all calling her quill to her hand.

"How are you doing that?" Mara exclaimed, pointing to the gliding feather.

"Um." Laura lowered her wand. "It's hard to explain. Don't think about it too much; just let it come to you. Concentrate on the object that you're summoning, but don't kill yourself over it. And don't put too much stress on any word in the incantation."

"Okay." Mara took a deep breath and pointed her wand. "_Accio_..._quill_." She tentatively glanced over at the quill. It was sliding...sliding...sli-i-i-iding over...and stopped.

Megan, who had started watching sometime in the middle, spoke up helpfully. "Try not to pause in between."

"Ugh. I know, I know. I was trying to not think about it," Mara grumbled. "_Accio_-"

"_ACCIO WALL_!" A gleeful voice shouted out.

Mara bristled at the sound; that was unmistakably the voice of James Potter. She turned around behind her, and sure enough, the Potter boy had his wand brandished toward the wall, and Sirius was next to him doubled over in laughter.

"_ACCIO WALL_," James declared louder, stabbing the air between him and the wall. His second attempt only made Sirius cackle harder.

"Great Gobstones, mate," Sirius exclaimed, brushing a tear from his eye, "what do you expect a wall to do by summoning it?"

"I dunno. Bring it to me?" James shrugged and sat down.

"Pretty sure the wall is stone."

"Pretty sure the stone can break and come to me," James shot back.

"I'd like to see it try," Sirius smirked.

"Alright, mate, watch and learn. _ACCIO-_"

"_Would you two gormless idiots shut up?_" Mara rose to her feet sharply, slamming her hands on her desk. Around her, many of the students stopped working and stared at her.

Sirius and James exchanged glances with each other, and their expressions turned smug.

"Why, Ms. Nelms?" James drawled deliberately. "Are we disturbing your class?"

Mara's brow creased further.

"What's got your panties in such a twist, Ms. Nelms?" Sirius shrugged, propping his feet on his desk.

"Feeling a little _bothered_, aren't we?"

"A little _vexed_, I'll bet."

"We must be _grating_ on your _nerves."_

"Whatcha gonna do about it?"

Mara opened her mouth to deliver a smart reply, but it was at that moment that Professor Flitwick chose to look up and give his class a quick sweep. She grudgingly seated herself again, fuming inside. As soon as Flitwick returned his attention to his own desk, however, the Marauders behind her began to simmer with whispers.

"Merlin's beard, they're annoying," noted Laura. She stole a quick glance at the boys behind her.

"You think they're plotting something?" Mara muttered, following Laura's gaze.

Megan looked troubled. "Um. I wouldn't put it past them."

"If they _try_ anything, I swear-"

"_Accio Mara's hair!_"

Mara narrowed her eyes at the voice, and she spun around. Sirius had his wand pointed toward her, but as soon as her eyes fell on him, he quickly retracted his arm innocently. Beside him, Lupin elbowed him and hissed a quiet, "That's enough."

"Did he just say what I think he said? I mean, I don't think you can-" Megan began, confused, but she was quickly cut off by another, "_Accio Mara's hair!_"

This time, Mara felt something. A small sting at her scalp. A nerve inside of her snapped. She shot to her feet and spun around, catching James red-handed this time. With a quick incantation under her breath, red sparks shot out the tip of her wand and enveloped James's wand hand. James gave a small yelp as he shook his hand and his wand clattered onto his desk, but the red glowed brighter until it suddenly disappeared with a crisp _POP!_

"OW!"

"_Ms. Nelms!_"

Mara cringed at the sound of Professor Flitwick's voice, but she turned to the front of the room where the professor had hopped to his feet and was scrutinizing her carefully.

"Sorry, Professor. Slip of the hand," she smiled sweetly. "I don't think I'm getting this Summoning Charm all that well."

"Well, for starters, I might advise you to point in the right direction. I certainly have no idea what you were doing pointing behind you. I must say-five points from Gryffindor for terrible form."

Mara took a deep breath. "Yes, Professor." She carefully sat down, while several fellow Gryffindors around her glared. _It could've been worse_, she told herself. _He could've given you detention._

When Professor Flitwick finally looked away, however, Mara's friends tittered excitedly.

"Which one was that?" Laura asked, impressed. "That was one of your own inventions, right?"

"Yeah. It's my newest one. I haven't really named it yet, but I'd say it works well enough." Mara looked quite proud of herself.

"He deserved it," Megan agreed. "I'd like to see them try _that_ again."

And, fortunately, the Marauders did _not_ try that again. Or anything else. On them, anyway. Sirius and James chose to look past them and found other targets for their newfound ability to pluck hairs. And James, Mara noted with a hint of satisfaction, repeatedly rubbed his right hand every few minutes or so as if it was still sore.

When class was over, Mara leisurely gathered her things together. Laura had to dash to her next class because it was on the other side of the school, and Megan had forgotten to return a book to the library that was due today. Her next class was only the next hallway down, so she didn't feel any real need for hurry. However, as she reached for her library books, her hip bumped into the corner of her desk, and her books and the things she was holding spilled onto the floor.

"_Ow_," grumbled Mara, rubbing her hip. She hated doing that. She knelt down with a sigh, but a pair of pale hands reached for them first. She blinked in surprise, and as the figure rose with all her materials neatly stacked together and offered them out to her, she was more than startled to find herself staring at Sirius Black.

"Whoa. Did you jinx them just now or what?" she asked suspiciously.

Sirius pulled his lips into a thin smirk. "Would you rather I drop them on the floor for you to pick up again?"

"I'm surprised you're offering me a choice," Mara snapped, rolling her eyes. But she reached out for her books.

Sirius glanced down at them briefly. "Meet me in the Common Room tonight."

"Wha-? Wait. You mean, after curfew?"

"No, of course not." He shot her an amused look. "_Yes_, Nelms, after curfew. Don't pretend like it's such an effort for you to, either. Don't forget-"

"Yes, yes," Mara cut him off. "I get it. I'll be there." She snatched her books out of his hands.

* * *

When Mara was sure that the girls in her dorm were asleep, she crept out of her room and down the stairs to the Common Room. Once there, she discovered that Sirius was already there and seated in an armchair, legs crossed and waiting for her expectantly.

"Took you long enough."

"You said _after_ curfew. This is pretty damn close to _after_ curfew-"

"Come on, Nelms," Sirius said briskly, getting up and turning for the portrait-hole. "We're going on an adventure."

"An adventure...? Great, I can't wait," muttered Mara, following him despite her reluctance. That photo could very well be the death of her if her friends didn't get it back for her soon. She had let them know earlier tonight that she'd be meeting Sirius after curfew, so his room was free for ransacking. Of course, there would still be the other two sleeping boys in his room to deal with, but they had been brainstorming plenty of clever ways to handle _that_ during dinner.

He led her outside of the castle, expertly weaving between the blind spots of roaming professors just as well as, if not better than, Mara whenever she went on her nightly trips. She couldn't help but be slightly impressed by that. Once outside, she glanced around her anxiously, wondering where exactly it was that they were going. It wasn't long, however, before she had her answer when they stood at the entrance of the Forbidden Forest.

"The Forbidden Forest," Mara said flatly. "You're kidding me."

"Absolutely not, Ms. Nelms," Sirius replied pleasantly.

"The _Forbidden Forest_? Are you crazy? Have you NOT heard the stories? What, do you have a death wish or something and want to drag me into it?"

"The implication that I would ever choose my death alongside you is offensive by itself," he said, drawing back in mock hurt. "Come now, Nelms. Where's your sense of Gryffindor pride? I'd expect a little more bravery here."

"Look, I may have been sneaking around, and I'd say that was brave, but I certainly wasn't crazy. Not crazy enough to go in _here_. If you're trying to test me or something-"

"No, no. There is legitimate reason, I promise," he assured her. "Well? Are you going to back out now or what? I would have to say, I expected more from a fellow Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat-"

"I'll do it," Mara interrupted, bristling at the idea of her Gryffindor status being challenged.

"That's more like it." Sirius grinned mischievously and bent around a nearby rock, producing a lantern.

"Whoa. Do this often?"

"I wouldn't think you'd expect any less." He switched it on.

Mara blinked at him. He could've mentioned that he'd been sooner. She would've felt a lot safer if she believed he knew where he was leading her. Then again, maybe she wouldn't have believed him, in any case. The idea of anyone sneaking into the Forbidden Forest was close to a death wish. Lamely, she treaded after him as he began to make his way into the forest.

To be fair, the warm summer air was thrilling. It smelled like fresh pine and sharp spice and a blend that just reminded her of pure _magic_. She ran her tongue over her teeth and tasted something that felt like freedom. There was a large slice of the moon in the sky tonight, which provided them with enough light so that the glow cast over all the shapes of the trees and made them seem more friendly than usual. There was the occasional crunch of leaves or twigs, or even a flurry of movement that would startle her and make her pause in her footsteps, and she even caught glimpse of horse legs galloping between the branches, but time after time, Sirius would pull her along again.

"Where are we going?" she finally asked.

"We're almost there. Don't ruin it now."

Soon, they emerged from a throng of branches into a clear, open space. And in the middle, like some mystical, silver mirror that gleamed their reflections back to them, was a sprawling lake that covered some vast distance that Mara could not even see the end of.

"_Oh._" Mara's hands flew to her mouth as she regarded her surroundings. The grass beneath their feet was a muted, green carpet from the pale moonlight, and the trees that surrounded the lake looked like a ring of giants guarding something precious. Better yet, the sky above them was not entirely pitch-black. Instead, it was some intense dark blue color that seemed to hug the air around them. The entire setting looked like something from a dream.

"Mind you, it doesn't always look this way." Sirius glanced back at her, clearly entertained by her reaction. "We picked a good night, I suppose. When you come here on Halloween, it can be quite unsettling."

"Great Gobstones, I wish I had a camera," murmured Mara wistfully as she approached the lake. The water was gloriously clear, and she dipped her fingers into the water, enjoying the feel of it as well as the ripples she created.

"Well, snap out of it, Nelms. We're not here for play."

Mara rose from her spot curiously. "What _are_ we here for?"

"Spells. Isn't that what you're best at?" Sirius mused.

She blinked at him. "Well, yes, but which-"

"The Patronus Charm. Have you ever heard of it?"

"I-" She frowned. The name was clearly familiar, fresh in her mind. She'd heard about it somewhere, and the source of the memory was nagging at her. "I have, I think. I mean, why?"

"It's a more advanced form of magic. I daresay it's not even something _you've_ accomplished yet. In any case, I've made a wager with my mates, and they don't think it's something I can get the hang of. I'm here to prove them wrong, and I learn from only the best." He grinned at her, displaying rows of teeth that she was sure usually sent girls swooning. "I hear you experiment with magic theory well enough to understand its mechanics."

"A bit, yeah. I mean, I've been coming up a bit short in Charms, but I've been inventing a few dueling spells," Mara remarked, recalling her triumphs with a sense of pride.

"Good. So you can help me."

Mara sighed. "I don't have a choice, do I?" To be honest, this hadn't been what she was expecting. She actually _liked_ learning spells, so this wasn't bad at all, especially for blackmail. "So, what's a Patronus Charm?"

"It's essentially a defense spell ," Sirius explained, producing his wand from his side. "It's supposed to produce your spirit guardian when performed correctly, and it wards off forces like Dementors. Unfortunately, it's wretchedly difficult to get the hang of."

"Dementors?" Mara's blood ran cold at the thought of them, but her fingers warmed as she delicately grasped her own wand. This spell _was_ going to be useful. On the other hand, she had the pressing feeling that she had most definitely read about this spell recently. "Well, how does it work?"

"The incantation for it is 'Expecto Patronum'. You're supposed to muster your happiest memory and focus on manifesting that into corporeal form."

"That's it?"

"It's harder than it looks," he warned.

Mara shrugged. A memory flashed before her eyes: her friends. Meeting for the first time. Having fun together. She pointed with her wand: "_Expecto Patronum!_"

She waited. Nothing happened. The corners of her lips pulled down slightly. Mara really hoped Sirius wasn't pranking her with this one or anything. "It's not working," she complained.

"I told you, it's harder than it looks," he shrugged. "Look, even _I'm_ having trouble with it, and I can certainly muster a Summoning Charm. Look: _Expecto Patronum!_" Again, nothing happened.

Mara regarded his attempt carefully. Well, if he was going to do this with her, it wouldn't just be _her_ time she was wasting if he was pulling a prank. She shrugged, and was about to try again, when she suddenly caught on to what he had said. "_Hey!_" She frowned. "I can do a Summoning Charm just fine, thank you."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course," he smiled sarcastically, "I'm sure _that's_ what you were doing to the quill in class earlier today, wasn't it?"

Mara colored slightly, but she didn't answer. Instead, she concentrated on her happy memory once more and pointed: "_Expecto Patronum!_"

"No, no, Nelms, that's positively atrocious. Your form is all wrong," Sirius remarked, and he pointed out the flaws in her position.

Mara glanced over at him with another shadow of suspicion. Maybe he was in it just to see how ridiculous he could make her look. Still, she couldn't imagine what he was getting out of this, so she complied and continued. "_Expecto Patronum!_"

"You're not thinking about your happy memory hard enough. Look, just don't pull one out lightly. Truly, think of your _happiest_. And really _think_ about it."

And so it went on, the night growing older as they continued back and forth. It occurred to Mara after an hour or so that Sirius was not trying out the spell for himself so much as helping her out. However, once she managed a silver wisp from her wand, she realized that he might not be pranking her after all, and focused with all her might on getting the Charm right after that. Her understanding of how magic worked certainly helped, and within the next ten minutes, a bigger cloud of silver was being produced from the tip of her wand.

By that point, however, she found that she was being worn rather thin, and plopped onto the grass wearily. "Oh, you weren't kidding when you said this was hard."

Sirius smirked at her. "Don't tell me you give up. Really, now, maybe you weren't as great as you always made yourself out to be-"

Mara shot him a sour look and snapped to her feet. "_No_, I don't give up. Give me a minute, okay?"

"That's the spirit, Nelms."

After another two hours, when she was so tired that the only thing keeping her going was Sirius's snide remark, and she wanted to collapse more than anything in the world, she pointed her wand in the air and was about to concentrate on a memory of her family, when she suddenly changed her mind. She thought about Charli, her Kneazle familiar, and how ecstatic she had been at finally being able to have the feline friend she'd wanted all her life. How she'd cradled the creature in her arms and how wonderful it had been to finally have such a longtime childhood dream fulfilled. "_Expecto Patronum!"_

A rush of silver vapor burst from her wand all at once and arranged itself, taking on an animal form. Mara nearly wanted to drop with relief. The smile on her lips grew even bigger when she realized that her Patronus was a cat.

She turned to Sirius triumphantly, waving her arms in the air. "Take _that_, you bugger! Let's see _you_ try to do this!"

Sirius shrugged casually. "Oh, I don't know. Well, let's see." He pointed his wand in the air. "_Expecto Patronum!_" Silver mist flooded from his wand, and Mara gawked in disbelief.

"W-wait a second! How did you-? You were barely even _trying_ just now-!" She stopped, however, when she saw his Patronus: a huge dog. Mara snorted. "Oh, how fitting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked lightly, flicking his wand arm around so that his Patronus followed along.

Mara felt a twinge of annoyance at his easy success. Gripping her wand, she felt certain her Patronus could run faster than his, anyway, seeing as how hers had a smaller form. She copied his wrist movement, and soon, her cat raced past him.

Sirius's eyes flashed at the sign of a challenge, and he took her on. Soon, they were running all over the side of the lake, directing their Patronuses along in some lunatic, wild game of tag.

"What are we _doing_?" she screamed with delight over her shoulder at one point, just nearly missing his Patronus as it pounced for hers.

"I dunno, but you started it!"

Soon, however, their Patronuses faded because they were simply too worn out to continue. Mara, especially, had no idea where the extra burst of energy came from after all that she had gone through to simply _produce_ the darn thing. She collapsed with great relief onto the ground, burying her face in the prickly grass. Sirius plopped down next to her, shoving against her playfully.

"_Hey!_" she complained, pulling away from him. "Let me be, okay. I'm dead now."

"Well, wouldn't that be a damn shame," Sirius remarked, stifling a yawn.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't think too much about it, Nelms."

She peeked out from the grass. "You know, you've dropped the 'Ms.' tonight."

He shrugged, folding his arms behind him as he sprawled out across the grass. "Why? Don't tell me: you prefer it now?"

"Well, of course not. That's what everyone calls my _mother_. That's too weird, I hate it. I just mean-well, I dunno. You and James are really fond of calling me that." Mara made a face.

"Well, your reaction is worth it, y'know?" He covered another yawn as he closed his eyes.

"So why'd you drop it tonight?"

His eyelids fluttered open. "Well, okay, if you _prefer_ it, then that's all you had to say, you know-"

"God, no, you idiot!" She smacked his arm. "Nelms is fine. Nelms is better."

"_Ow!_" He laughed, rubbing his arm. "Merlin's beard, you've got some swing."

"Yeah, well-" She snorted back a giggle, and she was about to say something else. Witty, clever. It was going to be funny. But the thought flew out of her head as her eyes raised to look at him and she met his eyes, and she was struck by how _clear_ and _grey_ they were. It was startling, kind of, and...and it made something drop in her stomach a little.

"Are you going to finish that sentence?" Sirius prodded. "Or are we incapable of sentences now, too, on top of everything else?"

"Everything else? What's everything else?"

"Oh, I don't know. Summoning Charms? Your Patronus Charm was pretty terrible, too."

"Terrible? Hey, I got it, didn't I?"

"Yes, but it took you _forever_. I really should've just asked someone else for help-"

"Oh, shut up, you prat." Mara rolled her eyes. He shrugged and closed his eyes again. No doubt he was tired, she guessed. Mara blinked a couple of times, noticing that he really wasn't so bad-looking. Especially when she was up close like this. And wow, she _was_ up close. Why was she so close to him? She could smell him, his scent dancing over to her as he breathed. And he smelled like the crisp scent of wood, and cinnamon, and-

A strange, hollow feeling settled inside of her. It was bizarre. She shot up suddenly, realizing she had no idea why she had been lying so close to him or why she was okay with it. Usually, she _hated_ his guts.

His eyes were open again. "Something wrong?"

"I'm tired. We should be getting back," she told him, getting to her feet.

He stretched his arms contentedly. "Okay."

* * *

"I've got it," Megan announced triumphantly at breakfast the next morning as she sat down.

"Huh?" Mara shook her head out of a daze. "What did you say?"

"I _said, _I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"_The photo_. Merlin's beard, Mara, are you okay? You look out of it. And not the kind of 'I'm really tired and out of it' out-of-it. I mean, _spaced_," Laura observed as she took a seat next to Megan.

"The photo? Oh, yeah! How did that go?" Mara asked, eyes wide.

"Not so hot at first," Megan admitted. "I set a sleeping spell over his roommates to make sure they would stay asleep like we said, but when I started to look for the photo, I found out a couple of hiding places were jinxed."

"Jinxed? Jinxed how?" Mara exclaimed.

"Let's not talk about it," Laura shuddered.

"I didn't know what to do, so I was going to try to find Laura and maybe lure her out of the Ravenclaw Tower or something for help," Megan recalled.

"But I'd actually snuck out of bed because I was worried. And I bumped into Megan on the way, and we went back to the Gryffindor Tower and worked on undoing the jinxes together."

"It took a while, but we found it!" Megan beamed proudly as she produced a photograph from her robes and slid it across the table.

"Ta-da!" Laura looked pleased with their find.

"Oh, wow, you guys. Thank you. I love you so much!" Mara glanced at the photo and shuddered when she saw the expression on her face as she was caught on-camera. Quickly, she stuffed the offending item into her robes and made a mental note to burn it later. "Seriously, I couldn't have done it without you guys."

Megan saluted. "You're welcome."

"So, uh." Laura nibbled at the side of her toast. "How did quality time with _Sirius Black_ turn out?"

"Um. It was really weird. I mean, I learned how to conjure a Patronus Charm. I mean, we did. I mean-" Mara frowned. Did he really learn how to conjure a Patronus Charm with her? She couldn't tell if she actually helped him at all last night. "I don't know. I mean, I didn't hate it. Actually, it really wasn't half-bad."

"That's a really weird answer. Not quite what I was expecting." Laura blinked.

"Me, too. I think I was expecting something like, 'dreadful', or 'godawful', or 'I hope I never have to do that again'. Especially since you seem so dazed today," Megan said.

Mara chewed at the end of her fork thoughtfully. "Like I said, I just learned a spell last night. That's really all I did."

"Well, good for you, I guess. And now that you've got the photo back, he can't do anything worse to you!"

"Exactly. Okay, no, I've really got to know. Tell me about those jinxes," Mara implored, leaning in.

* * *

In Charms class later that day, Sirius Black approached her. "Well, well, Ms. Nelms. It seems there are things I didn't know you were capable of. You sent a weasel through my things."

Mara gave him a satisfied look. "Yeah, well. You shouldn't have blackmailed me, yeah?"

* * *

At the end of the day, as she was heading back into the castle from one of her outside classes, Mara heard a voice behind her.

"Nelms! Wait, you forgot something."

She turned around to see Sirius Black racing after her, waving something in his hands. Mara waited until he had reached her before she asked, "Well? What is it?" He was still taking a moment to catch his breath.

"You forgot this." Then, without warning, his hand shot out and ruffled her hair violently. She cried out in protest and shoved him away from her as she reached up to fix her hair.

_FLASH!_

Mara blinked at him in disbelief. "Okay, so what was that?"

"I needed new leverage," he explained, holding up his camera as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He caught the photograph that slid out and showed it to her with a smug smile. "Wouldn't it be lovely to have this spread all around the school?"

Mara gawked disbelievingly. The picture was hideous. If anything, it was possibly worse than the first one. Her hair was all over the place in some sort of disheveled mess that looked as if she had just crawled out of bed, and her eyes went from open to half-closed as the picture moved. Not to mention her complexion looked positively unflattering with the shadows that her arms cast as her hands went to fix her hair. "_Please don't_."

"Welllll..."

"What do you _want_?"

He paused. "We're going to Hogsmeade this weekend."

"So?"

"Meet me at the Three Broomsticks, okay?" Sirius grinned.

Mara scowled at him. "What, are you going to poison my butterbeer or something?"

Instead of replying, he gave her a boyish smirk and shoved her lightly off-balance as he walked past her.

She righted herself and whirled around, planting her feet and simply glaring at his retreating figure. There had definitely been something wrong with her last night.

Back in her room in the Gryffindor Tower, a library book on Patronuses that she had checked out only yesterday sat on her desk.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, Mara. It's been exactly one year now since I promised this story to you, and here it is at long last. I know you haven't had the best of birthdays, but I hope this makes it better. I LOVE YOU!


End file.
